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1.1.1-Alexanderperchov
brick!club day one So, I’m going to take this group as an opportunity to share the thoughts I’ve already have and discuss them with people, as my copy of Les Mis I have already heavily annotated! In the first short chapter, I only underlined two bits, so, for all that we get the Bishop’s entire life story in those two pages, I’m not gonna talk about him. I’m gonna talk about the ladies, because I love them, and because there is so much to talk about regarding Hugo’s use of reoccurring themes. He does this really masterfully, it’s almost like… waves. It’s like the Brick is an ocean of themes and they all resurge over and over again and mount and eventually they just crash down on you so hard and you’re like OH. And then when you go back and see the other stuff you’re like “OH THATS THAT THING AND OH HUGO YOU SLY DOG HOW DID YOU EVEN DO THAT”. Or at least, I do. So anyway. Ladies. And family units. I am a huge proponent of found families, and so is Hugo, and it is BEAUTIFUL. Valjean and Cosette are a family, the Amis are a family, and here is our first family: Baptistine and Myriel are actually related, but then Magloire is also definitely part of this little family. Their family unit makes me so happy. Anyway, I’m sort of distracted and not forming thoughts well, but there’s a line I want to pull before I get out of here. She had never been pretty; her whole life, which had been a succession of pious works, had finally cloaked her in a kind of transparent whiteness, and in growing old she had acquired the beauty of goodness. And really, that’s sort of Les Mis’s whole deal, isn’t it? I have other thoughts about this, as well as about another quote that I feel really evokes Fantine (though also about Baptistine - remember the thing about waves of themes? yeah.) but this is a long post already and I’d love to see other people’s thoughts too and I’m not even being articulate right now at all so I’ll spare you my distracted ramblings. I just really like what Hugo has to say about family and beauty and love and good and evil and grey areas and subjectivity. Loud happy sigh, I have too much to say about this book, and I am so pleased to have this forum to say it in. Commentary Doeskin-pantaloons Of things that crop up in Hugo again, and you’re like - Aha, Hugo! We have seen this before: is it coincidence that Baptistine, like Enjolras, is more ‘soul’ than person, and lowers her eyes before coporeal things. I think not! I haven’t actually considered the implications of this similarity yet, except that I see this as Hugo kind of saying ‘too good for this earth’. Alasse-irena Your comment about families is lovely and true. I have things to add when the Thenardiers turn up (all of them - even the two youngest boys) about Hugo’s critique of the inherent goodness of biological family, but I think will save them until the right moment to avoid spoilers… But yes, Hugo families.